MHSAA adjusting baseball state tournament in 2019

Robert Thompson ,left, of Corunna tags out Josh Nabozny ,9, of Fowlerville during a regional final in June. The MHSAA announced Thursday a scheduling change to its baseball state tournament. Beginning in 2019, a "Super Regional" will take place following the district.(Photo: Kevin W. Fowler / for the Lansing State Journal)Buy Photo

High school baseball teams in Michigan will now have more opportunities to use their top pitchers in the most meaningful games of the season.

The Michigan High School Athletic Association announced Thursday morning that it is altering the tournament format starting in 2019 to give teams that option.

The baseball tournament is moving to a two-day “Super Regional” format in June 2019. Under the new format, regional semifinals will take place the Wednesday following the district final. Two regional finals then would take place at the same site on a Saturday, with trophies being awarded to the champion.

The two regional champions would meet that same Saturday, with the winner moving directly to the state semifinals the following Thursday and Friday.

The “Super Regional” format will replace the current one-day Saturday regional that was followed by a Tuesday quarterfinal that has been used by the MHSAA. The change to the "Super Regional" format was proposed by the MHSAA Baseball Committee prior to the Representative Council’s meeting in May.

The adjustment to the state baseball tournament will impact the schedule of the Dean Shippey Diamond Classic. The championship game of the Diamond Classic has taken place on the Wednesday following the district.

The MHSAA said the softball state tournament will continue to follow its traditional schedule.

Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @brian_calloway.